Hey @Lance Marwood - sorry I'm a day late! What I'm making: My reels to promote my upcoming first release (two singles)! What I'm stuck on: These reels were made with my content creation partner but I still need to add audio (from studio master) and single artwork (from V13) and any other call to action What I need feedback on: How's the audio throughout? Is the music too loud to hear my voice? Is this pretty much done and ready to post/be used as a template from my other content from my content creation partner? Save the call to action for caption (I think so, yes)? Generally, does this grab you and make you want to stream the song?

Hey @Lance Marwood I won't be able to make it today. Hope to see you on the next one!

-What I made this week: I made the decision to inform my band, The Hot Pursuit, that I do not wish to continue writing original music with them with the hopes of recording an album. Instead, I want us to remain a cover band (bars, weddings, corporate events) while I pursue original music as a solo artist. This was a heavy decision that the band seemed quite stunned by. But after working on the marketing side of music alongside V13 the past 7-8 months, I've realized that releasing music as a group, and all the little marketing tactics/decisions that are involved with that, would be MUCH harder when having to consider 3-4 other opinions from bandmates. More than that, I was really hurt personally when my band denied their permission to allow our Hot Pursuit debut EP from 2023 on the same profile as my soon-to-launch Garrett Barbuto Spotify/other DSPs profile. Of course, I can understand their emotions about having music they contributed to go from "Garrett Barbuto & The Hot Pursuit" to "Garrett Barbuto"; however, I feel that from a marketing perspective, it simply makes the most sense to have all the original music I've made on one profile. I was hoping after all the leadership I've undertaken in my band and the relationship we've cultivated that they would be able to put their emotions aside in favour of doing what's best for me. Cause I feel that whatever is best for me is best for them. Once I realized that their support was conditional on taking care of their needs ahead of my own, I had to take a step back from my expectations for the group as well as my role as the main growth driver in the band (i.e. Taking steps towards our next album). -What I'm stuck on: Did I overreact? Could I have just come up with a different solution to the Spotify/DSP profile issue that broke me? Of course, it's difficult to communicate every nuance that goes on with my band. But ultimately, with my first solo release on the horizon, I need people around me that support me without questioning my ethics or motives. Plus, all I'm really doing is telling the band that I no longer want to push the group to do anymore than it's currently doing which is about all they can handle anyway - as they've communicated. I still want to continue playing cover shows with these guys cause I love them; but all of this has caused me stress, lack of sleep and to be a worser partner to my girlfriend.

@Lance Marwood @Christopher Gonda thank you guys for the support. Talk soon!

What I made this week: First edition of "Burt's Basement Sessions" video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Pi5dw5MVZqaiffvWeAFbyz4OEc_FiCJ7/view?usp=drive_link What I'm stuck on: We are still mixing the audio that will be used but it will sound good for a live, off-the-floor recording; but we can't decide if a still shot like this is sufficient enough for YouTube (which is the sole purpose, the audio won't be good enough for DSPs and we might clip some stuff for social media but that's it). Should we hire a videographer and do a much more interesting/dynamic video? What would actually help me right now (be specific: "thoughts?" gets nothing, "does the hook actually stop the scroll?" gets a real answer): Do you think fans actually care about video that much on YouTube for music listening? Or do they just throw it on in the background while they are on working on other tabs on their computer?

@Lance Marwood I'm not sure how much help I have on this... since V13 is pretty much taking care of all the prompts in the 15 question survey. Might be useful to have some examples (maybe with visuals?) of what bad looks like (i.e. misspelled names, different looking bios, poor quality images) and what good looks like.

@Christopher Gonda As I'm sure you can tell, this was shot an iPhone. I did recently buy a higher quality camera that records audio. I'm hoping there's a middle ground between hiring a videographer for every single show and having a friend like this one to help try to execute the same objective. The answer is probably using a higher quality audio recording device and/or personal mic.